Comments on New set of Ouiet Please offered

The wonder makers at First Generation Radio Arcives have done a rather extentive restoration of the Quiet Please episodes. Here is the write up in the newsletter:Most new OTR fans start their listening with the acknowledged classics of themedium: "The Lone Ranger," "The Shadow," Fibber & Molly, Jack Benny, and thelike -- most of which are widely available and easy to get hold of. If they findthe medium of interest, fans will then dig a little deeper into the treasuretrove and go for Gildersleeve, "The Lux Radio Theater," perhaps some of OrsonWelles' work with the Mercury Theater, or head off into the west with Red Ryder,"Gunsmoke," or Roy and Dale and the Sons of the Pioneers. Before long, OTRlisteners will start honing in on one or two particular kinds of shows that theyfind to be of particular quality or of a particular genre since, with so much tochoose from, there's little option but to specialize in order to focus yourlistening on what you can conceivably hear in a lifetime.

Oddly enough, though, over the years many a radio fan has found him or herselfveering into what have become known as the "cult" shows of radio -- that is,programs that generally attracted only small audiences during their originalruns but, due to some particular quirk or quality, have ended up with a secondand frequently far more popular life as the years have gone on. Shows that fallinto this category are such creative gems as Elliot Lewis' "Crime Classics" forits odd and often tongue in cheek takes on criminal activity through the ages;"X-Minus One," the adult anthology series that was probably the first networkseries to take science-fiction writing seriously; "Adventures by Morse," thepulp-based blood and thunder adventure series written and produced by radiorenaissance man Carlton E. Morse; and "Quiet Please," the dark fantasy anthologyseries that blended a creative mind, a small audience, and a miniscule budgetinto a mind-bending exploration of radio's uniqu! e and often terrifying ability to engross and shock its listeners.

Because cult shows attracted such small audiences when they were first produced,and because they were frequently aired without the financial support of asponsor, a great many of them have not survived and those that do exist todaysurvive only in edited and/or poor quality versions. But, as any fan of suchshows will testify, it seems that none of the cult shows have suffered as muchas Wyllis Cooper's "Quiet Please." Aired as an unsponsored sustainer between1947 and 1949, first on Mutual and later on ABC, the majority of shows in theseries *do* exist -- but, considering how downright lousy most of them sound,its apparent that the recordings spent quite a few years in less than ideastorage conditions; in fact, though we've never seen the original discs, wewouldn't be surprised to find tire tracks and bird droppings once decoratedtheir surfaces!

Their condition, though sad, is not particularly surprising; what *is*surprising is that they exist at all.

The creator of "Quiet Please," Wyllis Cooper, had began his broadcasting careerwith NBC Chicago in the early 1930s, where he created one of the mostblood-chilling anthology series of all time, "Lights Out." Heading to Hollywoodmid-decade for a screenwriting career that never quite took off, Cooper handed"Lights Out" over to a young Arch Oboler," who used it as a creative springboardto fame and success. By the turn of the decade, Oboler was a household name andCooper, struggling away over scripts for low budget B-movies, could only dreamof what might have happened had he stayed with the show himself.

Cooper moved to New York in 1940 and returned to radio during the war years,working as a producer for "The Army Hour" and accepting other network andadvertising agency assignments. Despite his film studio commitments, he hadalways kept a foot in radio, writing scripts for such big-time network shows as"Hollywood Hotel" and "The Campbell Playhouse." Finally, in 1947, he was giventhe chance to once again create and produce a new and different half-hourfantasy-mystery-horror show for the Mutual Network. Assigned a terrible timeslot(Sunday afternoons at 3:30), a miniscule budget, and airing over a network whoseaffiliates had only a nominal commitment to carry the show, "Quiet Please"debuted on June 8, 1947 to the resounding disinterest of the vast majority ofthe listening public.

But, from the beginning, "Quiet Please" had a unique and disquieting style thatquickly pegged it as a series to keep an eye on. Thanks to his NBC Chicagobackground and his many years toiling thanklessly in Hollywood, Cooper was usedto dealing with small budgets; he recognized early on that, though no sponsormeant little money, it also meant little executive interference -- a fairtrade-off for a man set on using radio in the most innovative and creative wayspossible. Also early on, Cooper called upon the talents of a man he had knownfrom his days with "The Campbell Playhouse": Ernest Chappell, who had served asthe announcer for that program. Chappell had previously been a radio newsmanbut, aside from a number of announcing assignments over the years, he had seldomventured into performing. However, despite his lack of experience, Chappell hadthe one thing that Wyllis Cooper wanted: the ability to tell a story simply,directly, and without the artifice of "acting." W! ith the kind of weird, supernatural, and often surreal stories that Cooper wanted to tell on "Quiet Please,"Chappell proved to be the perfect man for the job: enough vocal talent to beconvincing, enough experience and timing to know how to deliver a line, andintuitive enough to be able to portray a wide range of well-developed charactersin simple yet distinctive ways.

Mutual, recognizing that "Quiet Please" had potential, soon moved the show toWednesday nights at 8:30 PM and even arranged for exclusive east coastbroadcasts via its flagship station WOR New York on Monday nights at 10:00 PM.Nevertheless, though enthusiastically received by those who heard it, audiencesremained small, sponsored remained disinterested, and the budgets remainedminimal. At the start of the 1948-49 season, the show moved to the ABC RadioNetwork and returned once again to Sunday afternoons (this time at 5:30 PM),where it remained until being briefly moved to Saturday nights just before itbreathed its last on June 25, 1949.

For decades, "Quiet Please" languished in obscurity, well remembered by thosewho heard it but seldom revived. Wyllis Cooper returned to NBC Radio in 1951 tocreate a new anthology series titled "Whitehall 1212," based on the cases ofScotland Yard, and also wrote for the new and burgeoning medium of televisionbefore passing away at the age of 56 in 1955.

By the 1970s, only a handful of "Quiet Please" programs were available to radioenthusiasts - including, thankfully, "The Thing on the Fourble Board," one ofthe most horrifying and blood chilling programs ever broadcast and a strongrepresentation of what the series had been. Then, mid-decade, "Radio Yesteryear"owner J. David Goldin obtained and released a lengthy run of the series, takenfrom the original transcriptions. Goldin offered the series on tape with awarning to potential buyers: the discs were in deplorable condition, with pops,scratches, hiss, and other audio artifacts that could not be removed withoutdestroying the content of the programs. (Wyllis Cooper had once owned copies ofall of the programs himself, but had disposed of them during a move in the early1950s.) It is these "Radio Yesteryear" releases from which have come all of the"Quiet Please" shows currently in collector circulation -- including theprograms we're offering to you, our Best Friends,! this month.

Above three years ago, thanks to the generosity of Radio Archives member ScottEberbach, we came into possession of a series of "Quiet Please" tapes from RadioYesteryear -- tapes sold when the series was first released in the 1970s. Thoughthe fidelity and audio range of the shows clearly indicated that they were onlytwo or three generations removed from the source discs, the overall quality ofthe shows was indeed dreadful; Goldin had not exaggerated when he describedtheir condition to his customers. However, since the 1970s, the tools availablefor audio restoration had greatly improved and increased in both subtlety andrange. Combining these shows with new digital technology, could we take thesedamaged and deteriorated programs and, even if they couldn't reach high fidelityArchives standards, at least make them listenable?

The project was daunting -- but we were lucky in that restoration technicianMark Koldys was a big fan of the series and was willing to tackle itsrestoration. Mark is a well-known producer of classical music and is also activein the re-release of many movie soundtrack recordings, so his time is limited --but, still, he spent three full years working to bring seventy-four half-hour"Quiet Please" shows back to life once again. Second by second, minute byminute, and hour by hour, Mark struggled to clean up the shows to the best ofhis expert technical ability.

This month, the Radio Archives is pleased and proud to be able to offer theseshows to you: 74 full-length broadcasts on 37 audio compact discs for the lowprice of just $74.00. If you're a long-time fan of "Quiet Please" or justsomeone who has heard a few shows from the series and would like to hear more,this is a tremendous deal -- but be aware that these shows are being offeredwith a few important and significant notes on their content and quality:

* These programs, though taken from low-generation tapes and restored to thebest of our ability, remain the worst sounding shows that the Archives has everreleased. A great deal of work has gone into making them sound as good aspossible, but they retain a great deal of the wear and tear of the discs fromwhich they came.

* If you purchase radio shows from the Archives primarily because you'reimpressed with our audio quality, you might not want to purchase this set.Despite sounding far better than they ever have before, these "Quiet Please"shows remain a challenge to enjoy on a strictly casual basis.

* Unlike some radio mystery shows which have mellowed with age, "Quiet Please"remains a bizarre, unique, and frequently terrifying exploration of what mightbest be called an alternate reality -- a reality bearing a strong andrecognizable resemblance to our own, yet chillingly separate from it. Cooper'sstream of consciousness writing technique, combined with the voice talents ofErnest Chappell and a small group of additional performers, sometimes makeexperiencing "Quiet Please" somewhat similar to driving past a horrendousautomobile accident on the highway: you really don't want to see it, but somehowyou can't make yourself look away. Cooper was extremely adept at guiding andmanipulating the minds of his listeners, which means that, once heard, some ofthese programs will likely stay with you for years to come. Simply put, if youare easily frightened, we strongly encourage you to avoid listening to theseshows alone -- particularly in the dark. Really. No kidding. W! e mean it.

The 37 CDs in this special offer will come to you in paper sleeves with theusual full color Archives labels. Here is a complete listing of the programs inthis special offer:

Along with thousands of other radio fans, we hope that one day a long andpristine run of "Quiet Please" recordings will come our way, allowing us to makethis groundbreaking series available to you in sparkling high fidelity. As theyears go by, though, it seems less and less likely that this will ever come topass. So, in the meantime, we offer you these compact discs as a way to finallyexperience the thrills, chills, and bizarre delights of Wyllis Cooper's creativeimagination: the best sounding versions of "Quiet Please" that have even beenmade available.

I just got the set and yes they still sound like hell, but it's a clearer kind of hell. I had never heard the show before, and am really enjoying it.

I sent an email to the First Generation Radio Archives (FGRA) website (www.radioarchives.org) asking about the QP deal mentioned in the previous posting and learned that the offer of 37 QP CDs for $74 was for "Friends of the Archives" and for November. That special price is apparently no longer available, but by becoming a member of FGRA (as I have just done), you can gain access to a list of FGRA's about 2000 or so "low generation CDs" (as opposed to their Premium Collections) which includes the 37 QP CDs (at the bottom of the listing as of Dec. 20) at $4 each. Four dollars seems to be the normal price for these low-generation CDs.

Before I invest up to $148 (37 x $4) for these CDs, I would like to hear from anyone who has sampled both the FGRA CDs and the MP3 versions available from the Quiet, Please website and can comment on how much more listenable they are.

I have now listened to about half of the QP episodes available at this (QP) site, and while I often greatly enjoy the experience (thank you, Paul K., for making this possible!!), many/most of the episodes would be heightened with some serious noise reduction and enhanced clarity.

Having spot checked the new set against the MP3 posted here on the site my findings are that much of the fidelity is back and the shows don't sound so muddled. That and the removal of alot of the lesser surface noise are the big fixes here. Unfortunatly the big crackeling is still there, but to a slightly lesser extent. Another plus is that they don't have what I call that "silvery-sound" that glides over the top of an MP3. You know that kind of computer dust sounding thing that realy comes aparent when people say things that start with the letter S. I can send you a clip of an episode of you would like to hear for yourself.

I too have this set and yes, it is only for the "friends." To become a friend, once has to have purchased a number of offerings from them over the years. I was told the set would only be offered to them at that price. I do believe the only way one could get it now is through the single CD purchases mentioned in another email.

However, if FGRA feels down the road they might be able to make some much needed cash by selling this set, it is always possible. Problem is (as mentioned) it doesn't meet their usual standard and I had to make sure I indicated I was definitely aware of that when I bought them. They wanted me to make sure I understood that.

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